“Do not fucking touch her.” His knee slams into Jaxon’s ribs, and he brings his foot down on Jaxon’s knee.
“Stop!” I try to grab Salinger’s arm, but it’s like I’m not even there. His arm drags me forward as his fist slams into Jaxon’s nose with a crunch.
“Salinger, please! You’ll kill him!”
“Intruder!” Lauren screams from the door. “Call the police, Mom! He’s killing Jaxon!”
“Lauren, no. Salinger, get off of him,” I plead.
Jaxon is bleeding from his nose and mouth. I try to haul Salinger away, but I might as well be trying to stop a tank.
“Oh shit!” Gran yells from the doorway. “Damn, son, this isn’t even a fight! This is an ass-whoopin’!”
“See?” Amy screeches from the hallway. “You’re the problem, Lauren, not me! Now Jaxon’s cheating on you. He was in Mandy’s room. No man can stand you.”
“Did someone call a stripper?” Gran hoots as heavy bootsteps sound on the stairs.
Several cops push their way into my small bedroom. “Hands behind your head,” they shout.
Salinger gets in one more bone-shattering punch then draws back from Jaxon as the cops position themselves around the room.
The cops are apprehensive. “On your knees.”
Salinger doesn’t obey their orders. In the small room, his huge body is like a monster’s, stalking back and forth in front of me.
“Salinger, please.” I sob. “Just stop.”
He finally lets me push him back against the wall and slowly puts his hands on his head.
“On the ground!” the cops yell. “Get on your knees!”
“He attacked me,” Jaxon groans dramatically from the floor. With his bloody face, he looks every bit the victim.
“Salinger, what did you do?” I whisper.
“On your knees!” the cops yell.
“Me?” I squeak.
“Get down now!”
“Fine,” I gasp. My knees protest when I kneel next to Salinger.
“They plotted this,” Jaxon gurgles. “It was a trap. She did this on purpose to try to get away with murder.”
“Murder?” I gasp. That lying sack of shit.
Salinger doesn’t look at all remorseful.
“Don’t believe them when they tell you I attacked her,” Jaxon adds. “What Mandy and I were doing was completely consensual.”
“You stole my boyfriend? I hate you, Mandy!” Lauren screams.
“I didn’t steal him. I don’t want anything to do with him!”
“I need an ambulance. I think that brute ruptured something,” Jaxon moans, eyelids fluttering for effect.
“You can’t seriously believe him.” I look frantically between my family and the police.
